Couple Die Minutes Apart : Giuseppe and Livia Fortuna Married 69 Years Die Within One Hour of Each Other

A Couple dies just minutes apart after spending 69 years together, the two native Italians met and fell in love in Rome, tied the knot just before the end of World War II, had four kids and moved to a house in Stamford’s Cove neighborhood in the early 1960s, They stayed there until their health deteriorated and lived together in the Smith House Health Care Center for about a year.

“As they grew older, health problems interfered and about a year ago, they became residents of the Smith House Health Care Center in Stamford, sharing a room in the city-run facility,” details the Patch.

Livia had just celebrated her 86th birthday on Dec. 12 – but the next day, at the age of 91, Giuseppe passed away. About 50 minutes later, Livia also passed.

Family members told the SF Gate that Livia died of a “broken heart.”

“My mother was in shock to hear that my father had just died. She couldn’t breathe and she was having a fit, even though she was on oxygen,” one of the couple’s children, 67-year-old Giuliana DiGeronimo, said. “At the nursing home, everyone said they were angels. Everybody used to say how much they loved each other and how my father was always trying to help my mother.”

The couple’s youngest child, 51-year-old John Fortuna, said that his mother knew death was coming. In a telephone conversation just a week before her death, she reportedly told one of her grandsons that his grandfather was dying, and added, “I’m going with him.”

Funeral services for the Fortunas was held on Friday at the Nicholas F. Cognetta Funeral Home. Together, the couple was then laid to rest at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Greenwich, Connecticut.